1528) Um escritor escrevinhador: Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Gostei desta frase, de Flannery O’Connor, respondendo a uma questão sobre por que ela escrevia, tal como retomada por Cormac McCarthy: “Because I was good at it.”
Eu a faço minha, também, ainda que eu não possa dizer que sou bom nisso. Apenas gosto de escrever e sinto necessidade de fazê-lo...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

O nosso cowboy favorito
Martim Vasques da Cunha
Dicta&Contradicta, 17 de novembro de 2009

Cormac McCarthy não gosta muito de entrevistas, mas quando as dá nota-se que deve ser uma conversa estimulante. Vejam, por exemplo, essa longa entrevista ao Wall Street Journal, realizada devido ao lançamento do filme The Road, baseado em seu romance vencedor do Pulitzer de 2008. Alguém imagina um escritor (vamos supor, um brasileiro?) respondendo dessa maneira brilhante não só uma vez, mas três vezes seguidas?

WSJ: How does the notion of aging and death affect the work you do? Has it become more urgent?
CM: Your future gets shorter and you recognize that. In recent years, I have had no desire to do anything but work and be with [son] John. I hear people talking about going on a vacation or something and I think, what is that about? I have no desire to go on a trip. My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That’s heaven. That’s gold and anything else is just a waste of time.

WSJ: How does that ticking clock affect your work? Does it make you want to write more shorter pieces, or to cap things with a large, all-encompassing work?
CM: I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.

WSJ: The last five years have seemed very productive for you. Have there been fallow periods in your writing?
CM: I don’t think there’s any rich period or fallow period. That’s just a perception you get from what’s published. Your busiest day might be watching some ants carrying bread crumbs. Someone asked Flannery O’Connor why she wrote, and she said, “Because I was good at it.” And I think that’s the right answer. If you’re good at something it’s very hard not to do it. In talking to older people who’ve had good lives, inevitably half of them will say, “The most significant thing in my life is that I’ve been extraordinarily lucky.” And when you hear that you know you’re hearing the truth. It doesn’t diminish their talent or industry. You can have all that and fail.